How to Give Those Old Windshield Wipers a Fighting Chance
There are few things as frustrating and dangerous as not being able to see the road you are driving on. Our beloved vintage rides do occasionally get caught in the rain, and especially if you are typically a fair weather cruiser in a vehicle that lacks modern wipers, that water can really put a damper on your vision. Luckily there are plenty of modern chemicals designed to help keep water off your windscreen, but do they all work the same, and is there one that works better than the rest?
Glass alone might be plenty smooth, but that does not mean it’s also hydrophobic. Water can still sheet up and cause all kinds of optical problems. Inclement weather often comes with dark skies, bright headlights, and the stress of just trying to survive the thunderdome of the roadways to get your beloved vintage ride home. Windshield wipers have advanced significantly over the years, but retrofitting modern wipers onto vintage cars has yet to catch on, so we are left figuring out other solutions to keep up.
Many years ago I was told that slicing a potato in half and rubbing it on the windshield would help water bead up and slide off. That tricked worked when I got caught in a storm and my motorcycle helmet visor was not shedding water fast enough to keep my vision clear. After that day I came to believe in hydrophobic coatings, the same ones that YouTube channel Project Farm just put to the test to see which is best.
The name recognition of Rain-X is hard to beat, but apparently the function of Rain-X is not nearly as unassailable. Of the nine different coatings tested, several had far better water shedding properties, but also came with finicky multi-step application process. That amount of prep work did seem to correlate with effectiveness when tested with a hose, though two wipes with some windshield washer fluid to simulate cleaning a windshield between storms and suddenly a few proved to be fairly delicate. Even more cleaning with car wash soap of bug and tar remover left all but four still shedding water like new.
Is this perfect real world testing? Not really, but it does give us some insight into a few products that can help us enjoy driving our vintage cars with more visibility. Personally, applying some type of hydrophobic coating to the windshield is part of my pre road trip checklist. Several of the brands across all price points in this test performed admirably, and buyers can make their call based on budget and how much rain their classic is likely to see.
Will these coatings making driving in the rain fun? Maybe not, but it can at least give us a chance at making it home safe and not missing our exit because that sign was just a green blob on the other side of the windshield right up until it wasn’t. Between keeping a windshield clean and using a water repellent like those mentioned in the video above, driving in the rain doesn’t have to be a horrible experience—but cleaning the car afterwards might still be.
And if you were trying to figure out what the car in the feature image is, it’s a 1957 Zundapp Janus. Kudos if you got it right.
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Nearly had an accident the first time. The windshield view resembled the view from the Millennium Falcon in the scene going into hyperspace. What a trip!
Back before Rain X I realized that wiper blades are terribly abused… and easily damaged. I wipe them with alcohol several times and quite alot of black goes onto the rag. Really cleaning the windshield with alcohol and newspaper gets it clean The blades are alot more effective on clean glass. So many people run the wipers over icy areas which ruins the edge… The windshield is easily scratched by abraisive dirt build up and should be washed by flushing it with water and gently scrubbing… get the bugs off… then alcohol…
I have used Rain-X since 1979. Awesome product and greatly improves visibility in every condition.
I use it on every window on my vehicles and helps with snow and ice removal here in MI winters. The key to a good application and performance is starting with extremely clean glass – double clean off existing dirt film with Dawn dish soap using a clean lint free cloth. Apply after thorough rinse cleaning and following Rain-X product directions. Avoid get Rain-X and the Dawn soap on your painted surfaces. Using Rain-X washer fluid also help prolong its performance over time.
I started using rainX in late 1972 or early 1973 – wasn’t available in Canada and my brother and I got it from AutoWorld? in Scranton PA. Used it on my ’53 Coronet going to PEI from Ontario summer of ’73
In your review, it would have been helpful if you had actually listed the products which performed the best, and under what conditions. I learned more from the comments than I did from the actual article.
The reality is that if you really clean the glass the wipers work better. Rain-X or potatoes or A1 steak sauce; maybe some things help, but clean glass helps more. And sure it’s worse now, but now I’m old and my eyes aren’t great, so who’s to blame? Clean glass, newish blades and slow down.
Many years ago I drove my sons race truck to work, a fifty mile drive one way, I had to fill up a couple times each way, no heater, wipers, open headers, it was a cool fall day, I coated the windshield with Rain X before I headed out, on the way home, it was dark because I worked second shift, ran into a thunderstorm, I had to drive slow because slicks are worthless when wet, the RainX did a good job keeping the windshield half way clear.
Am I the only one who gets distracted after fresh application of rain x …
Watching the water beads gliding up the windshield
I thought the idea of Rain-X was to minimize the use of wipers. Only use them below the speed at which the water doesn’t bead off on its own, and the treatment lasts far longer.
That’s exactly what I do. Unless driving in traffic where the cars around you throw up water from the road, I really do not turn on my wipers except an occasional sweep or two with the pulse function. Rain-X also allows me to drive in the rain without getting as tired. The regular sweep of the wipers seems to put me to sleep! When my windshield is properly treated it’s a lot easier to look THROUGH it and not AT it.
Yeah, with Rain-X, at 50+ mph, I run without the wipers, because they’re not needed.
I’ve found that just using Rain-X washer fluid helps a lot. I never seem to get around to actually applying Rain-X to the glass.
When I started driving some 70 years ago, my father told me to get a block of chewing tobacco and rub it on the wet windshield. It worked great, however the smell of the block of tobacco in the glove compartment may have put off some girlfriends! Maybe not, many Oregon coast girls had fathers who were loggers, millworker, longshoremen that chewed. I use 20/10 in a little squeeze bottle nowadays, an Oregon product.
I’ve been using Rain-X on all the windows on everything I’ve owned since I bought my 1992 Cutlass Supreme SL new. I also use Rain-X washer fluid. It keeps the windshield “tuned up” so it lasts for years. It also makes the wiper blades last several years instead of replacing them annually. Also less or no blade chatter. On the interstate at 70 mph in most of my cars, I can run without running the wipers. I treated my 1980 Triumph TR7 when I bought it several years ago and try not to drive it in the rain. I was out in it a couple of weeks ago and it started raining. I was actually surprised that the Rain-X was actually still working after no retreatments for several years. It’s the best invention since the wiper blade.
Definitely avoid applying to a newer windshield. I’d probably give it a year before using RainX. Had major smearing heading into a sunset when I hit the wipers with cleaning solution. Good stuff otherwise. Thank you for the exec summary.
Sorry for being off topic
Could you do an article for 50 year old glass that has acid rain on it. I was told by a glass shop I need to buy new windows. It seems to be in imbedded possibly right into the glass. Is that possible?
I bought a used car several years ago with bad acid rain etching on all the windows. The owner of our local detailing supply shop sold me a bottle of Meguiar’s Professional Machine Glaze #3 and told me to polish the glass by hand and then use a good car wax on the glass. It took some “Arm-Strong” but the result was clean, clear glass! I used the same Machine Glaze to polish another car’s headlight covers with the same excellent results.
Always clean/treat your wiper blades when treating your windshield. A quick swipe with rubbing alcohol should do the trick. I also moved to quality blades like Bosch icons years ago after watching an episode of Storm Chasers.
I tried Rain-X when it first came to market way back when. I wasn’t sold on it. It seemed to do more harm than good. That said, living in Southern British Columbia one can test the wipers far more than most people. In 40 plus years of driving, half of that in the rain, I will say that descent quality blades replaced often is the best way to see.